Apocalypse: I Built the Infinite Train-Chapter 339: People

Although they were mentally prepared, the eerie movements in the dark still caused Shi Diyuan’s face to harden. He looked in the direction where Lin Xian and the others had departed—their figures quickly vanished into the darkness.

At first, the twisted darkness had been mistaken for a kind of black fog. But now everyone understood—it was the result of short-distance spatial distortion, a visual blur caused by space-time expansion.

In a place like this, the warped terrain could be seen with the naked eye for several kilometers in every direction. The overwhelming sense of unreality pressed down on everyone like a suffocating weight.

“Combat units, ready weapons!”

Back on the Infinite Train, Luo Yang, Shu Qin, and the others had climbed onto the roof. The G3 Electromagnetic Railgun and 1130 CIWS were fully deployed. Shasha, in the ammo-loaded Sally, was already positioned at the front of the defensive line. Everyone was braced for battle.

Earthquakes shook the Dark Forest as eerie tides surged. But all around, vision was swallowed by that twisted black haze. The only thing still visible was the massive ridgeline in the distance.

“Look—!”

Someone suddenly shouted, “That mountain!!”

All eyes turned westward. What looked like a colossal mountain was now visibly distorting into a separate entity, its jagged edges peeling away from the surrounding terrain.

It was now clear—this wasn't a “mountain” at all. Especially when several enormous spikes, like ridgelines, twisted skyward.

Everyone realized in that instant: it was a gargantuan, unknown dark creature.

Silence fell over the entire train formation. It felt as though not a single person dared to breathe. Lu Xingchen, in his tiger-form, focused his sharp eyes on the distant shape. A wave of subtle yet suffocating pressure swept through everyone.

More and more spikes emerged. Then, the “mountain’s” outline began to descend, revealing itself as a colossal, multi-legged insect-like monster crawling rapidly in a specific direction.

“Holy cr*p, that bug’s bigger than a mountain!”

Exclamations erupted across the convoy.

“Did it see them?”

“It’s… it’s moving in their direction!”

“Wait—isn’t that toward the center of the Abyss?”

“Dear god, that thing’s terrifying!”

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Shu Qin’s power armor radar completed a scan. She calmly reported over the channel, “Everyone, stay calm. No hostile signatures nearby yet.”

“No need to fire!”

Xiao Lou and Liang Lei, leading two assault teams, tried to keep everyone from losing it. But the pressure was immense. A single misfire out of fear could spark disaster.

Panic was creeping through the ranks of every convoy.

Lu Xingchen’s voice rang out over the shared channel: “Everyone, hold your ground. There’s no immediate threat to our line. Don’t act rashly—stay patient!”

One by one, the convoy leaders snapped out of it, suppressing the rising fear.

“Don’t panic! Hold your positions!”

“We’re not in danger right now!!”

“Deep breaths! Deep breaths!”

After over ten tense minutes, the chaos finally settled. Since there’d been no attack on the train formation during that time, the core leaders, including Shi Diyuan, finally let out a breath.

“Our side’s secure for now. Lin, how’s your team holding up?”

Shi Diyuan reached out to Lin Xian. After a brief delay, Lin Xian’s voice came through the captain’s channel:

“So far... so good.”

Meanwhile, the recon team, carried by KIKI’s psychic shield, flew swiftly above the Dark Forest. The warped sense of space-time felt as if the thick world itself were being inhaled—everyone’s heads throbbed from the strain. Heart rates were spiking across the board, as shown on the power armor monitors.

Without the protection of the Eerie Cube, the intense environmental pressure and dark corruption had everyone gasping for air.

Below, in the dead forest terrain, black shadows writhed constantly. Trapped in the middle, A Bai was panting over the comms: “1 o’clock… 9 o’clock… 4 o’clock…”

“There’s a lot! A lot of them!”

“Are we marked?”

“No.” freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

“Speed up!”

KIKI pushed her telekinesis to the limit, boosting their flight. Ning Jing and the others held their breath. The 85-kilometer journey wasn’t far by flight—but the faster they went, the worse the physical discomfort became.

Everyone—except Grace.

【Warning: This environment is causing ongoing lethal stress to human bodies. External armor is ineffective. Prolonged exposure is not advised.】

Deep in the dark, Lin Xian felt the same dread creeping over him, ever since they were swallowed by the Abyss Tide in Aksai. He was certain the others were suffering just as much.

Grace’s reminder sharpened his focus. The current mission was to scout the superconducting maglev anchor system in Silent City and the rail junction design at White City. If they succeeded in both, they could launch the full united train formation.

So Lin Xian planned to head straight for the White City Rail Station—scouting terrain and hopefully uncovering clues about Hu Lushou’s group. Cracking the White City junction plan would be one-third of the battle won.

As for that grotesque giant... Lin Xian intended to avoid it altogether. If needed, Grace—a non-living scout—would be sent instead.

The recon squad was made up of some of the highest psychic-index members of the thousands aboard. Yet even Monica, Qian Dele, Ning Jing, and the others looked visibly strained—the environmental toll was immense.

“This path was scanned by Grace. No dark entities detected. We’re in stealth mode. As long as we don’t engage head-on, we should…”

Lin Xian’s voice came through the channel, trying to ease the tension.

Ning Jing replied, “A Bai’s monitoring us constantly. If we do get marked, we’ll have to stop immediately—deal with it before it escalates.”

“Right,” said Qian Dele. “Like last time, one guy triggered a monster wave—we couldn’t even run.”

Bzzzz…

Twenty-five Thunder Falcon 2000 drones hovered in a circular formation behind Lin Xian, forming a red halo in the black sky. Clad in Black Hawk Armor, he monitored the holo-interface, full of tactical data.

“We’re almost there. Delay to the train camp is still under 40 seconds.”

Liu Xing was flying while deploying relay signal units and drones for cargo drops—linking White City and Noisy City, and ready for emergencies.

KIKI, gritting her teeth behind her psychic shield, flew with everyone in tow. She wasn't the weakest mentally, but even she was pale from exertion. After crossing a few mountain ridges, the terrain finally began to shift—rough trails and abandoned structures appeared.

On everyone’s radar, a massive city nestled in the valley came into view.

“We’re here—White City.”

“Hold up!” Ning Jing suddenly called out to KIKI.

“A Bai sensed something ahead.”

“Everyone stop,” said Lin Xian.

Ahead, dense black mist obscured the view. Broken-down buildings emerged from the haze. KIKI slowed the group and gently brought them down.

The black asphalt road wasn’t the chaotic mess typical of apocalyptic cities. Surprisingly, it was fairly clean—no wrecked cars, no scattered luggage, no corpses.

It was as if time had frozen the city the moment the Abyss appeared. All vegetation was dead and rotting. Lin Xian stood still. A chilling wave surged up from the ground. He stared down the shadowy street—something was out there.

“Did you see something? What direction?” he asked.

A Bai pointed upward. “It was up there—just disappeared.”

【No anomalies detected in my observation system. Shall I investigate?】 Grace asked.

Lin Xian shook his head. If there was anything to see, Grace would’ve picked it up earlier. Her computing power was strong, but it didn’t guarantee detection of dark entities or corruption signatures.

“Be cautious—we’re not robots. Those things can see us,” Monica warned.

Chen Sixuan scanned the upper streets with the Meteor-3, then shook her head. “I don’t see anything. But going in blind feels risky.”

“Yeah, but staying here’s pointless too,” KIKI crossed her arms. “Do we have any better options?”

Unexpectedly, Xiao Qing—usually quiet—spoke up.

“Listen… to A Bai.”

Everyone turned to look at A Bai, armored and standing silently.

Lin Xian narrowed his eyes, then nodded and walked over. “Alright. From now on, we move based on A Bai’s perception. If it’s not visible on radar, we ignore it.”

A Bai, essentially a humanoid dark-sense detector, was even more valuable than the Hell Black Chrysanthemum. That flower only reacted once you were marked—but A Bai could detect threats ahead of time.

He was one of the reasons over a thousand people from Dragon Mountain No. 1 had survived.

A Bai nodded. “There are weird things… flickering in and out. Not moving, just… flashing.”

Lin Xian turned to Grace. “Grace, lead the way.”

【Understood.】

“We’ll follow. Unless we get marked, don’t engage. Focus on reaching White City Rail Station.”

“Got it.”

“Understood!”

Everyone fell into formation. Grace activated and stepped forward into the dark. The group closed ranks around A Bai and followed behind her into the streets of White City.

Lin Xian coordinated 25 Thunder Falcon drones to circle the squad as they moved. Their footsteps echoed across the empty city. The darkness was so silent—it felt like the world had vanished, leaving only them.

As the beam of light swept across the street, many of the shops were still open, but all the signs had decayed—paint peeling off so badly the writing was unreadable. Inside the shops, everything from clothes to merchandise had rapidly deteriorated into some kind of grayish, thread-like material.

“This doesn’t make any sense. Even if time had passed for over ten years here, fabric shouldn’t have decayed like this,” Ning Jing said, shining her flashlight into a clothing store. Racks of women’s clothing hung there, but all that remained were strips of grayish-brown cloth, suspended like lifeless rags. It gave her the illusion that even with her flashlight on, this world had no color.

She quickly glanced down at herself—only to realize she was wrong.

“You can’t use common sense to understand anything in this place,” Qian Dele said through the communicator. “Whatever we see from here on out, we need to look at it with a mindset ready to break everything we know.”

Lu Xingchen followed closely behind Lin Xian and KIKI, his expression grim. He scanned the darkness warily and touched the Infinite Loop on his wrist. Ever since wearing it, he’d started to hear strange sounds—like thick blood flowing, like rotting esophagi breathing. It made his skin crawl.

“Brother Lin—” He was about to mention the abnormal sensations to Lin Xian when suddenly, A Bai stopped abruptly, causing the whole group to halt.

“What is it, A Bai?” Lin Xian asked.

A Bai stood in place, looking frantically around. His voice was tight with tension. “Be careful. There’s a monster.”

“Where?”

Everyone instinctively drew into a tighter formation, their eyes scanning the alleys and shadows.

But all they saw was the same darkness. A desolate street, empty, still. Not even the wind moved—everything was eerily frozen, like time had stopped.

Lin Xian remained still, unsure why this thought even crossed his mind. Then, he glanced down at the Black Shadow Armor's holographic time display.

10:34 p.m.

He wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, but he felt like the “59” seconds at the end of 10:34 lasted forever.

He stared at that unmoving number, pupils shrinking—an overwhelming, surreal terror struck him.

Suddenly, he sucked in a sharp breath. Voices were still coming through the communicator, but they too seemed stretched and distorted in that one second.

59. 59. 00.

The numbers finally ticked. It turned to 10:35.

Haaa...

Lin Xian exhaled deeply, but in that very instant, everyone—himself included—felt their hairs stand on end. A powerful wave of fear crashed over them.

Because in the blink of an eye, the once-empty, dark street... was filled with people.

Lin Xian, KIKI, Fire Bro, Chen Sixuan, Ning Jing, Xiao Qing, A Bai, Monica, Qian Dele—every one of them froze, eyes wide. Countless human figures had appeared out of nowhere.

In front, beside, behind, all around them—people.

It was as if every person who had ever died in Baicheng’s section of the Abyss had returned, filling the street. They stood like withered corpses, their blood drained, their eyes sunken black holes, mouths torn grotesquely open. Their horrifying faces stared silently at them.

A decaying woman stood directly in front of Lin Xian. Through the Black Shadow Armor’s visor, he could clearly see the dried, shriveled tissue inside her hollow eye sockets.

The team was stunned. In that moment, no one dared breathe.

The street that had just been empty was now overcrowded, swarming with motionless figures. Their clothing had lost all color, faded to a washed-out hue. These “people” stood silently—utterly still.

They didn’t attack. They didn’t make a sound.

That was when Lin Xian looked down—and saw that at some point, the ground had become covered with black, vein-like tendrils, linking every single corpse. At the same time, fleshy, tumor-like growths appeared at the ends of alleyways—brownish-red masses—reminding him of what he’d seen once in Underground City No. 9.

This isn’t good, he thought immediately.

“A Bai,” Lin Xian asked quickly, “have we been marked?”

“No!” A Bai answered, trembling. “I didn’t detect any Dark Mark!”

KIKI whispered, “So what do we do? They don’t seem to want to attack us...”

“Burn them?” Fire Bro suggested.

Then Lin Xian remembered—“Grace!”

【I’m here.】

“Plot a new path. We need to detour around this street.”

Clearly, this situation had only been triggered because of their arrival—as living humans. Lin Xian’s top concern was whether they’d been marked.

【150 meters ahead, turn right.】

“Move!”

At Lin Xian’s command, everyone began moving swiftly. Grace’s updated route had already synced to the HUDs in their power armor, guiding them as they surged through the still crowd of dead.

But as they moved, all those people—those unmoving corpses— slowly turned their heads in unison, watching them go.

“They’re being controlled. Must be the territory of a high-level Eerie Entity,” Lin Xian said, sprinting up a building. The others followed, leaping rooftops at high speed as he kept an eye on the streets below.

“That nearly gave me a heart attack,” Qian Dele muttered. “They popped out like the night itself suddenly came alive.”

Ning Jing replied, “Dark Tide... but it’s been night all along.”

“You mean the Dark Tide isn’t the same as just ‘night’?” KIKI called out nervously as she hovered nearby.

“Could be,” Monica offered. “If we correlate the Abyss Zone No. 5’s current expansion pattern with the timing of the tides, maybe there’s a connection?”

“We don’t know what’s happening outside,” Lin Xian said, shaking his head. “But that’s not a bad hypothesis.”

Fwoosh! The White Hawk Armor’s thrusters fired, sending Ning Jing dashing across rooftops. She glanced back—on the upper street, all those pale corpses had tilted their heads upward, staring with those hollow, white-ringed eyes as they moved.

Chills ran down her spine. There was no path forward. She could only run faster.

Just then, Grace hovered in midair behind them, pointing toward a different street.

“Brother Lin,” she said, “I think something is watching you. Not sure if it’s just your imagination.”

Lin Xian and the team halted on a rooftop, turning toward where Lu Xingchen was pointing.

It was a highway tunnel. In a mountainous city like Baicheng, such tunnels weren’t uncommon.

But hearing Fire Bro’s concern, Lin Xian immediately tensed up.

“Ari?”

But A Bai shook his head. “I... I feel danger. But no Dark Energy.”

Everyone stared at the dark, yawning mouth of the tunnel—like a semicircular abyss.

Lin Xian narrowed his eyes, boosted the flashlight’s power, and shined it in. Still pitch-black.

He lowered the beam. “This place is too strange. We should—”

“Lin Xian!” KIKI suddenly shouted, cutting him off.

She aimed her flashlight too.

In that instant— a giant, white humanoid creature emerged from the tunnel, body nearly filling the entire passage. Its terrifying face twisted grotesquely in the darkness like the night was warping around it.

Ka-ka-ka~ It made a chilling, guttural sound—almost a laugh— and rapidly withdrew into the tunnel.

That sight sent a cold shiver down everyone’s spine.

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